King and warrior in early north-west Europe

This book explores the representation of the warrior in relation to the king in early north-west Europe. These essays, by scholars from the areas of Norse, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon studies, examine how medieval writers highlighted the role of the warrior in relation to kings, or to authority, and to society as a whole. The warrior who fought for his people was also a danger to them. How was such a destructive force to be controlled? The Christian church sought to challenge the ethos of the pagan tribal warrior and to reduce the barbarism of warfare (at least its worst excesses). We can follow this struggle in the medieval literature produced in the areas under study. Content Includes: Marged Haycock (U Aberystwyth), Poets and the Welsh experience c.600-1300; Charles Doherty (U College Dublin), Warrior and king in Early Ireland; Jan Erik Rekdal (U Oslo), The medieval king: Christian king and fearless warrior; Ralph O'Connor (U Aberdeen), Monsters of the tribe: berserk fury, shapeshifting and social dysfunction in Táin Bó Cúailnge, Egils saga and Hrólfs saga kraka; Morgan Thomas Davies (Colgate U), Warrior Time; Ian Beuermann (Nordeuropa-Institut, Berlin), Warriors and rulers in Old Norse texts from c.1200; Jon Gunnar Jørgensen (U Oslo), Presentations of King Óláfr Haraldsson the Saint in medieval poetry and prose; Stefka G. Eriksen (U Oslo), The role and identity of the warrior: self-reflection and awareness in Old Norse literary and social spaces. [Subject: Norse, Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies, Medieval History, Medieval Literature, Ireland & Scandinavia]